Coronavirus updates: July’s surge led deaths in August; Pelosi salon video has Fresno tie
The number of hospitalizations and patients in intensive care units because of COVID-19 has dropped significantly In California since July and the percentage of coronavirus tests that are returning positive has declined gradually in the past few weeks.
On Wednesday the state saw 4,250 new lab-confirmed cases — one of the smallest daily increases since mid-June.
In the central San Joaquin Valley, the average number of new daily cases being reported continues to decline and is down nearly 400 cases per day from a peak on Aug. 23. The six counties reported 624 new positive cases Wednesday, with the bulk, 357, coming from Fresno County.
Tulare County reported 110 more cases in its Thursday update.
The region has 58,527 positive cases. Of those, 40,612 are considered recovered.
Seven-hundred and eighty-three people have died of the corornoavirus in Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced and Tulare counties. That includes one reported in Merced County on Wednesday and nine deaths reported in Tulare County on Wednesday and Thursday.
Fresno County, which reported 27 fatalities earlier this week, continues to lead the region in deaths. Coronavirus was listed as cause of death for 90 people have died in the county.
Hospitalizations are down in Fresno, too
Fresno County is also seeing fewer people are being hospitalized by the coronoavirus.
On Wednesday, the county reported 172 confirmed coronavirus patients were in the hospital. That’s a dozen less than were reported on Tuesday and nearly 80 less than on July 31, when the county recorded 250 patients.
Surge of deaths in Fresno follows surge of cases
August proved to be a particularly deadly month of the pandemic in Fresno County, where health official reported 152 people died of the coronavirus – that’s more than in the prior five months combined.
There were 315 fatalities for the month across Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced and Tulare counties combined.
COVID-19 killed more people last month, both in Fresno County and the broader Valley region, than the numbers of people who typically die from either heart disease or cancer in August, according to cause-of-death data for 2016, 2017 and 2018 from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
The larger number of deaths in August is connected to a surge in new infections surfacing each day starting in July, according Dr. Rais Vohra, Fresno County’s interim health officer. He also warned that Fresno County and the Valley will likely see more increases in new COVID-19 cases as California begins a slower process of reopening businesses that have been under restrictions to slow the spread of the virus.
“Whenever we talk about a surge, first you get a case count that goes up, and out of that case count, fortunately not a lot of people get hospitalized, but we know people do,” he said. “And then as the hospitalizations go up, the next thing that happens is that the number of deaths go up, as well. That’s just how surges work.”
Woman behind Nancy Pelosi salon video is a Fresno native
On Wednesday, a video was released that showed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi walking through the San Francisco salon with wet hair and a mask hanging under her chin, not covering her mouth or nose.
The city’s salons have been officially closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The woman who released the video, Erica Kious, is a Fresno native and owns Sola Salon Studios on Nees near Palm avenues in north Fresno. She also owns three salons in San Francisco, according to her Instagram account and website, esalonfresno.com.
Kious released exclusive video to Fox News and said “it was a slap in the face that she went in, you know, that she feels that she can just go and get her stuff done while no one else can go in, and I can’t work,” Kious told Fox.
Pelosi’s office said that she thought her indoor shampoo treatment and blow-dry was allowed under local rules and Pelosi said she was the victim of a “set-up” by the salon; a sentiment shared by the stylist.
Federal judge forces action on COVID in Tulare County jail
A federal judge is forcing Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux to begin providing protective masks at the jail, tests for COVID-19 and to reduce contact between inmates.
The judge granted a class-action certification on Wednesday and approved a temporary restraining order against the sheriff, while taking issue with the apparent reluctance of Boudreaux to try and resolve the case.
Inmates Charles Criswell, Levi Johnson, Samuel Camposeco and Adam Ibarra filed a class-action lawsuit against Boudreaux on July 29, accusing the sheriff of not doing enough to protect against the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus in the jail.
The sheriff was ordered to adopt a policy to reduce contact between inmates in all common areas at the jail and create a policy for masks, including providing them to inmates and requiring they be worn.
The judge also wanted to know how many inmates may have COVID-19 and expects a report by Sept. 14 that details the jail’s COVID-19 testing — including how many tests have been conducted, how many inmates have been tested, how many staff members have been tested, when those tests conducted, how many inmates tested positive, how many staff members tested positive, how many inmates refused to be tested, and how many staff members refused to be tested.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Ashley Schwarm said Boudreaux “respects the court’s process in ensuring fair treatment of all parties involved,” but the “information the judge was relying on when making his decision was based on outdated procedures of the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office.”
This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 8:48 AM.